6. Crush the Sprinkler Guild

0:00Chapter 6, Crush the Sprinkler Guild, May 9, 2006 I suspect it as much. What the lady at the Home Depot called the Sprinkler Repair Cult is an emerging guild seeking privileges and regulations from the government. That means a supply restriction, high prices, or another do-it-yourself project. But there is a way around it. I first began to smell a rat when the automatic irrigation system on my front yard needed work, but I had unusual struggles in trying to find a repair guy. The first place I called informed me they could accept no more clients. Clients? I just wanted a new sprinkler thing, for goodness sake.

0:49I don't want to be a client. I want to be a customer. Is there no one who can put on a new sprayer or stick a screwdriver in there or whatever The next call was not returned. The next call ended with the person on the line fearfully saying that they do landscaping but will have nothing to do with sprinklers or automated irrigation systems. Um, okay. The next call seemed more promising. The secretary said they had an opening on the schedule in Three weeks. Three weeks? In that period of time, my yard would be the color of a brown paper bag. The next call failed. And the next one. And the next. Finally, I was back to the off-putting secretary. I made the appointment, but the guy never came. Fortunately, in the meantime, a good rain came. And then at regular intervals for the whole season, and I was spared having ."

1:51Why all the fuss? We aren't talking brain surgery here. These are sprinklers, little spray nozzles connected to tubes connected to a water supply. Why was everyone so touchy about the subject? Why did all the power seem to be in their hands and none in mine? Must Must I crawl and beg? Above all, I wonder why, with most all lawns and new subdivisions sporting these little things, why, oh, why are the people who repair them in such short supply? Little did I know that I had stumbled on to the real existence of a most peculiar thing in our otherwise highly competitive economy, a guild. It had all the earmarks.

2:42If you want your nails buffed, there are thousands of people in town who stand ready. If you want someone to make you dinner, you can take your pick among thousands of restaurants. If you want to buy a beer, you can barely go a block without bumping into a merchant who is glad to sell you one. None of that is true with sprinkler repair. What does a guild do? It attempts to restrict service. And why? To keep the price as high as high as possible. And how? By admitting only specialists or supposed specialists to the ranks of service providers usually through the creation of some strange but largely artificial system of exams or payments or whatever.

3:27Guilds don't last in a free market. No one can blame producers for trying to put it off, but they must always deal with defectors. Even the prospect of defectors can cause people There is just no keeping a producer clique together for long when profits are at stake. There is also the problem that temporarily successful guilds face. High profits attract new entrants into the field. They must either join the guild or go their own way. This creates an economically unviable situation in a market setting that is always driving for a Market Clearing Rate of Return Further evidence of the existence of a sprinkler guild came from the checkout lady at the Home Depot. I was buying a sprinkler head, and she said in passing that they didn't use to carry these things, that the decision of the manufacturer to supply them in retail got some people mighty upset. She spoke of the sprinkler repair people as a cult that should be smashed.

4:33Now, does this Guild really exist or is it an informal arrangement among a handful of local suppliers? As best I can tell, here's the Guild's website, www.irrigation.org slash default.aspx. The Irrigation Association is active in providing a voice for the industry on public policy issues related to standards, conservation and water use on local, national and international levels, acting as a source of technical and public policy information within the industry, raising awareness of the benefits of professional irrigation services, offering professional training and certification, uniting irrigation professionals including irrigation equipment manufacturers, distributors and dealers, irrigation system designers, contractors, educators, researchers and technicians from the public and private sectors.

5:30Watch that, certification, unity, standards, public policy, these are all dangerous words that come down to the same result, high prices and bad service. Why should anyone become certified? Prestige and credibility among peers and customers, professional advancement opportunities, enhances is the professional image of the industry, your industry. I thought I needed a sprinkler repairman, but these people want me to hire a Certified Landscape Irrigation Manager, a CLEM. How do you become a CLEM? Well, you have to send in $400 plus a resume that includes an overview summary of how you plan to meet program criteria.

6:21Two examples of project development to include System Design Objective, System Budget Estimate, Water Source Development, System Design Drawings, Hydraulic, Electrical, Detailed Drawings, Pump Station, Project Specifications, General Specification, Installation Specification, Material Specification, Pump Station. Two system audits or evaluations to include Audit, System Performance, Uniformity, Base Case Schedule, Recommendations for Improvement, Evaluation, System Performance, Uniformity, Hydraulic Analysis, Electrical Analysis, Grounding, Water Source, Product Performance, Recommendations for Improvement, Two Construction and or Construction Management Projects, Site Visit Reports, Drawing of Record, Final Irrigation Schedule, Punch Lists.

7:18Of course, they are working with government, federal, state and local. They want restrictions of every sort. They want their own turf and landscape irrigation, best management practices, or BMP, to be the law of the land. You can read more about this here. How hip-deep are these people in government? It's hard to say, but I'm guessing that local developers, landscapers, builders and others are intimidated by all these and are reluctant to challenge their monopoly. So thank goodness for hardware stores. They are working to bust up these vicious little guilds to the benefit of the consumer and everyone else. It means having to stick your fingers in mud and read instruction manuals and the like, but sometimes the defense of liberty The Theory of Money requires that you get your hands a little dirty.